Philippines Trade November 2015

Philippines: Exports contract considerably less in November

January 11, 2016

Philippine exports have been falling since April and continued to contract in November of last year, although at a significantly softer pace than in the previous month. Exports fell an annual 1.1% in November, which marked an improvement compared to October’s 11.8% decline. November’s advance mainly reflected a recovery in manufactures. Exports of electronic products—classified as a sub-category of manufactures—ticked up and rose 9.3% on an annual basis, which came in above the 7.3% increase seen in the previous month. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, electronic products account for the largest share of the total export revenue. Conversely, agro-based products recorded just another double-digit contraction in November.

In October (the latest month for which data are available), imports expanded 16.8% in annual terms, exceeding September’s 8.2% increase. Meanwhile, the trade balance deteriorated and tallied a USD 1.9 billion deficit in October (October 2014: USD 441 million deficit).

Met the why particular Consensus Forecast panelists see exports rising 6.4% in 2016 and slowing to a 3.1% expansion in 2017. Panelists expect a trade deficit of USD 11.7 billion in 2016 and see it widening to USD 13.2 billion in 2017.

Philippine exports contracted in November, after 12 months of expansions, mainly on the back of plummeting demand from Japan and a notable decrease in overseas orders to the United States and China, which more than offset stronger demand from Hong Kong and Singapore.